Cutie Patootie

Here's a current photo of our littlest girl. Her mom took her to a music festival where she was one of the star attractions. Looking at that little face makes me understand why my parents were so crazy about my own children. It's a good thing.

Upper Valley Fiber Festival

While in Ohio, I drove to Troy, about 20 minutes north of Dayton to attend the Upper Valley Fiber Festival being held on the same weekend. While the show was a small one--about 40 vendors--but I found the quality of the vendors to be excellent. There were a number of wool felting artists present--more than I think I see around my local shows--and I especially enjoyed the work of Morning View Farms. Their wool "paintings" were extraordinary.




I also visited the Paper Alice booth where Alison (aka. Paper Alice) demonstrated the art of papermaking, using a blender, a mold, and a handful of shredded junk mail. In just a few minutes, we watched as she created beautiful papers--the kind I've often purchased in art stores--using a McDonald's bag, a pinch of grass, some parsley, and a fresh dandelion. Her stall was filled with wonderful handmade books, notes and cards that she'd constructed using exactly what she was making there in front of us. It left me anxious to go home and try it out myself, especially since I just happened to have an unused paper mold at home with my rubber stamp collection!


The very best part of the show was that I got the chance to spend the day with one of my favorite people, Robin H., whom I originally met when I attended her rug hooking camps in Virginia. She and her husband recently relocated to Ohio and, when I discovered this fact, we immediately made plans to get together. Robin is one of those people who make you feel comfortable the minute you meet her and, even though we haven't seen each other for 4 or 5 years, it was like we'd been together last week. Robin brought along a new friend, Sue, a beginning spinner and the two of us had a terrific time "enabling" her.

To Dayton and Back

Every year, amateur radio operators from all over the world converge on Dayton, Ohio, for the Hamvention. The weekend is filled with seminars, a massive trade show and flea market, and other gatherings, all dedicated to ham radio. Paul has attended several times in the past and this year, I decided to accompany him. We stayed in Fairborn, with the QRP Association, a group hams whose special interest is low power radio operations.

Since amateur radio is primarily a male dominated activity, the wives--or XYL's, in ham lingo--in QRP took over one of the conference rooms in the hotel and, while the guys attended seminars and traveled to Dayton for the show, we did our own thing. Several ladies brought sewing machines and worked on quilt projects, others did needlework, knitted, and crocheted. I took my little spinning wheel and spent most of my time spinning yarn for a baby sweater.


Throughout, the hotel took good care of us by providing plenty of coffee, tea, and cookies. On the second day, the president of the organization sent the ladies a platter of chocolate covered strawberries from Shari's Berries. The berries were the size of a golf ball and each one was covered with a different kind of chocolate--one was coated in white chocolate with coconut, another was dark chocolate with mini chips, others sported both bittersweet and milk chocolate or nuts. It was a feast for the eyes and the tastebuds. I took a picture of them but unfortunately, they weren't as photogenic as they were delicious. There are plenty of good photos on the website.

Truthfully, if I'd have known I'd have such a good time at the world's largest hamfest, it wouldn't have taken me so long to get there! Now I can't wait til next May.

Suzie Gets a New Friend

The spinning obsession shows no sign of fading. Last year, I became interested in a little wheel made in Washington by a man named Doug Dodd. Mrs. Dodd was an active member of a local spinning group but found it difficult to transport her spinning wheel to meetings, due to health problems, so her husband offered to make her a lighter, more portable wheel. He produced a little wheel that he named, "The Pocket Wheel" and its introduction to the spinning group caused such excitement that he found himself with numerous orders.

I continued to do research on the little wheel and it seemed that people who owned them loved them. For me, the wheel was interesting for a number of reasons, but primarily because the elevated treadles seemed ideal for a vertically challenged person such as I. It was also an elegantly simple design that I found very appealing. Then, in the spring of 2009, Mrs. Dodd died and her husband posted a statement on his website that he would fulfill the present orders but take no more. Disappointed, but undaunted, I set about finding a used PW but to no avail.

Interest in the Pocket Wheel continued to grow and the news on Ravelry filled my heart with new cause to hope--a new woodworker (married to a spinner) stepped in to take up the lathe.
He announced that he would work with Mr. Dodd to finish the backlog of orders and take new ones in 2010, commencing April 1, 2010.

On March 31, midnight, a host of PW groupies staked out the new website and, by noon the next day, Jon McCoy, the new PW maker had at least 15 orders for new wheels. I was #4 on the list and hoped to receive my wheel this fall. In the meantime, however, I came across a notice on Ravelry from someone who had one of Doug Dodd's last wheels, purchased at a fiber festival and still in its box, never assembled. I pounced and now it belongs to me!

Since the new little wheel is less than half the weight of my Majacraft Suzie and takes up no more space than a large tote bag, I'm looking forward to taking it out and about with me this summer, including a trip with Paul to the Dayton "Hamvention." I plan to hold my own Lambvention.

A New Aunt Julie

When I was a little girl, I had a favorite aunt. She was my mother's good friend, so we weren't really related but when I was born, she was selected to be my Godmother. I was given her name, Julia, for my middle name and I loved my Aunt Julie. I didn't see her a great deal but when we were together, I remember how much we laughed. It was always such fun to be with her.

Years later, I gave birth to a little girl and we named her Julia. Now, there's Lilly and we have an "Aunt Julie" in our family again. I hope that Lilly enjoys her Aunt Julie as much as I did mine.

Spring Spin-In

Here are some photos of the wonderful spin gathering that I attended on Saturday. As you can see, the weather was ideal. A spring breeze kept us from being too warm in the bright sunshine.

We took turns holding this little black lamb, who cuddled like a kitten and seemed to enjoy the attention. Mama, however, was beside herself, bleating pitifully and wandering around the field in search of her baby. When the lamb was released inside the fence, the mother tore across the field, making little joyous cries that were easily translated, "You're back, you're back! Thank goodness, you're back!"









Our hostess also brought out one of her alpaca's for us to see firsthand. He was not as happy as the lamb, but allowed us, begrudingly, to pet him. At the end of the day, we enjoyed a sheep herding demonstration, starring Tess, a beautiful Border Collie who, despite serious vision problems, did a remarkable job of moving the small herd across the field. Since the seven lambs in the group were less than a month old, their mothers were still acting very protective of their babies and this further complicated Tess' work. At one point, one of the moms stopped suddenly and kicked backwards at the dog. Fortunately, Tess was able to dodge the blows and she was not deterred. Charging forward, she moved to the ewe's flank and gave her a little nudge, as if to say, "I'm in charge of this operation, Lady. Get moving."

I'm a Fairy Spinmother!

Recently, I read a post on Ravelry, from someone who wanted to learn to spin and I just happened to know that a spinning meet-up was going to be in her area the following weekend. I was planning on attending and invited her to come. In the meantime, she called to RSVP and discovered that the hostess also gave lessons. By the time of the gathering, the young lady had already taken a lesson and secured a loaner wheel. When we all departed after the spin-in, she’d spun two bobbins of singles, plied them and had a full skein of her first yarn ready to wash, whack, and knit. I was so proud!!! This is the anniversary of my first year spinning and I couldn’t have gotten a nicer gift!